


iced coffee and chocolate chip cookies

by elixx04



Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Barista!Karl, Everyone Is Gay, First Kiss, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Sex, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Oblivious Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), References to Depression, Sapnap Needs a Hug (Video Blogging RPF), and many more to come - Freeform, college students, they watch the bee movie, very little angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-17
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-25 20:35:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30094770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elixx04/pseuds/elixx04
Summary: “You know, if you had my number you’d be able to let me know if you couldn’t come in.” Karl offers hesitantly. Sapnap looks up from where he’s checking the time on his phone. “I mean- if not it’s totally fine.” Karl adds on quickly, face turning red.“No, no, that’s fine. You can just write it on the cup, Jacobs.” Sapnap’s voice is teasing as he uses the nickname he had come up with- it wasn’t creative but after Karl had mentioned wanting a nickname it was the first thing he could come up with. Of course, there were plenty other names he could come up with like sweetheart, baby-OR:In which Sapnap falls for the barista that works at the coffee shop he goes to
Relationships: Clay | Dream/GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), Karl Jacobs/Sapnap, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 195





	iced coffee and chocolate chip cookies

**Author's Note:**

> hope your enjoy! let me know if there are any typos :)

He knows it’s unhealthy. The way he’ll be fine one day then the next he’ll be laying in his bed all day with no excuse other than an ‘I’m tired’. He blames stress, school, family, everything but what really hurts. Feeling alone.

Today’s one of those days, the schoolwork he’s supposed to be doing left forgotten and the clutter of energy drinks half finished surrounding it. But instead of caring, he stares at the ceiling and thinks. His roommate’s out, no explanation as to why other than a slam of the door until he’s alone. He could talk to his friends- he knows that. He could call and ask one of them to hang out or talk to his mom for the first time that month. But he can’t bring himself to. Instead he just waits for a text checking on him that never comes. 

-

The barista’s name is Karl. After the fourth time of going into the coffee shop and ordering the same drink, he’d gotten the courage to ask his name. The guy had grinned and made some explanation that Sapnap immediately forgot about why he didn’t have a name tag before saying it.  Karl . 

When he goes back a fifth time, it’s one of the days that he knows will lead to a very unproductive one tomorrow. It’s a day packed with classes and he didn’t get any sleep the night before. 

“Hey! Iced coffee with extra creamer, right?” Karl asks, already writing it on the cup before Sapnap can agree. “Today we’re kinda packed- can I have a name for the order?” He asks and Sapnap looks around the small shop and sees the multiple other customers waiting for their drinks. 

“Uh- Sapnap.” He says sheepishly, feeling bad for coming in when he was clearly already busy. But Karl sends him a bright grin and puts it in the register. 

“That’s cool, is it a nickname?” He asks politely as Sapnap grabs his wallet. 

“Yeah, had it since like elementary school.” Sapnap says quickly, smiling at the way Karl takes the cash and brushes their hands against each other without even realizing. Karl files it away easily and almost as if on impulse, poises his hand above the tip jar in question. Every time Sapnap had been here he had asked that the rest go in and it seemed like second nature now. Sapnap nods and Karl rewards him with another one of those dizzying smiles. He moves out of the way and when he takes his drink from another barista- Alex on his name tag, he tries to ignore the blush on his face when he waves back to Karl on his way out. 

The next day he manages to do a decent amount of work before collapsing and that’s more of a win that Sapnap’s willing to admit.

-

Sapnap starts to come in every day now, getting the same order even if he doesn’t have to say it. Karl seems to always have his cup ready even if he hasn’t made it, the times Sapnap comes in varying depending the day. He learns certain things about Karl- like he wears sweaters no matter the weather. It could be below freezing outside and Karl’s wearing a loose sweater under his apron, completely unaffected. 

One of those days that Sapnap doesn’t have the energy to get out of bed, he thinks a lot. Thinks about the way Karl’s hand brushes his seemingly on purpose. The way Karl’s eyes are bright when they land in him and the way his dizzying smiles make Sapnap’s throat close up. 

“Hey! You weren’t here yesterday. Are you alright?” Karl asks the next day, his smile dimmer. Sapnap’s eyes widen and he hates that he’s the reason Karl isn’t as perky as usual.

“Yeah, sorry. Just one of those days.” He makes up an excuse, unsure how to explain the fact he was laying in bed thinking about him for hours on end. Karl nods in understanding as he takes Sapnap’s cash. He holds his hand over the tip jar and Sapnap rolls his eyes as he nods. 

Karl starts to make his drink and Sapnap’s thankful it’s a Thursday where no one’s inside other than an older woman and a college student studying. 

“You know, if you had my number you’d be able to let me know if you couldn’t come in.” Karl offers hesitantly. Sapnap looks up from where he’s checking the time on his phone. “I mean- if not it’s totally fine.” Karl adds on quickly, face turning red. 

“No, no, that’s fine. You can just write it on the cup, Jacobs.” Sapnap’s voice is teasing as he uses the nickname he had come up with- it wasn’t creative but after Karl had mentioned wanting a nickname it was the first thing he could come up with. Of course, there were plenty other names he could come up with like  sweetheart, _baby_ -

“Great. Here you go then.” Karl holds out his cup which knocks him from his thoughts. Sapnap takes the cup and looks at the neat scrawl that reads ‘Sapnap’ with a number just below it. The little heart doodle at the end of his name was something he still hadn’t grown accustomed to even if Karl drew it every time. It made his heart flutter and his breathing catch. 

“I’ll text you.” He says definitively, smiling at Karl’s awkward thumbs-up. Karl looks down at his hands as if he’s been betrayed as Sapnap laughs lightly before waving goodbye. He almost runs into the door but thankfully Karl’s too involved in waving back with a grin to notice. 

-

“Dude, you’ve been like way happier lately.” Dream says and Sapnap looks up from his notes, frowning in confusion. 

“Is that a bad thing?” He asks, watching as his roommate immediately shakes his head with a grin.

“No! I’m glad to see you smiling like this again.” He says and Sapnap rolls his eyes, turning back to his textbooks surrounding him on the too-small desk. “Maybe sometime soon we can go out again- with George and Bad and them.” He offers hesitantly. He used to try and get Sapnap to get out of the dorm room for something other than classes and food but at some point he just... stopped trying. Sapnap made bullshit excuses and Dream never called him out on it. 

“Sure.” Sapnap breathes, smiling softly. Dream lights up, clearly not expecting that answer. 

“Shit, great! I’ll let you know when the next party is.” He says, grabbing his keys. Before Sapnap can say he agreed to a hang out not a  party , he’s out the door and likely heading to George’s dorm room a couple floors up for ‘minecraft’. It’s definitely not minecraft but Sapnap can’t bring himself to be too bothered. At least it’s not in  his dorm room. 

-

Sapnap sends Karl a quick text later that night as the sun sets, deciding he’d worried himself over it long enough. Just a simple ‘hey this is Sapnap’ with a smiley face was something he had typed and retyped multiple times before hitting send. He set down his phone but almost immediately he got a text back.

_hey sapnap!!! :)_

The multiple exclamation marks likely shouldn’t be enough to make Sapnap grin but here he is, alone in a dorm room with barely any light staring a too-bright phone and trying not to let the giddy feeling in his chest rise and make him text something he will most definitely regret. 

_ sorry it took me so long to text, college is not my friend  _

He winced at his words, hoping it didn’t bring down the conversation. He tended to do that a lot- everything would be light then he’d make a joke or offhanded comment that would make the conversation fizzle out. He knew he lacked a filter sometimes.

_ i get that! if my professor gives me one more essay this week i think i might just turn in the script to the bee movie tbh _

Sapnap chuckled out loud, shaking his head and grinning at the thought of seemingly hard-worker Karl completely ignoring the rules for the assignment. 

_ i’ve never seen the bee movie but i can definitely say the professor would love to read that ;) _

He waits with baited breath as the ‘delivered’ gets turned to ‘read’. He looks past the phone to the work he was definitely not going to get done tonight. 

_ how have you never seen the bee movie?? _

_ that is a classic _

_ well now we have to watch it together, Sapnap :) _

Sapnap sucked in a breath, quickly typing out a response before he could overthink it and say no.

_ that sounds like a great plan :) _

-

When Sapnap arrived the next morning, he was regretting staying up until one in the morning watching Cartoon Network after remembering Karl mentioned one time he liked it in passing. 

“Hey Sap, we have a special for today- wanna try it?” Karl asks, grinning at the sight of him. Sapnap tried not to smile too brightly at the nickname before looking over to the board where the specials were.

“Does it taste any good?” He asks, scrunching up his nose slightly and look back to Karl who immediately shakes his head.

“No, I’d recommend your usual.” He replies honestly, already writing it on the cup. Sapnap laughs, shaking his head and letting his hands rest on the counter with the cash. He was definitely spending all of his money getting coffee in the mornings but he couldn’t bring himself to care. “So did you want to watch the bee movie tonight?” Karl offers as Sapnap nods when he silently asks about the tip jar again. It takes Sapnap a second to remember last night’s conversation before nodding.

“Sure! It’s on Netflix, right?” He asks, glad he has only two classes in the schedule for the day so he can freak out with Dream all afternoon. 

“Yep! Do you mind if we don’t go to my dorm? I don’t want to invite myself over but my roommate’s kinda noisy.” He scrunches up his nose as he slides the drink across the counter. Sapnap takes it without thinking and shrugs.

“No, it’s okay. My roommate typically leaves to his boyfriend’s.” He says, not leaving quite yet as he takes a sip of the cool drink. He lets out a small breath of relief as he does, glad to feel the coffee back in his system. 

“Is your roommate Dream by any chance?” He asks, tilting his head in confusion and messing with the fabric of his apron a little. He doesn’t move even as another customer enters.

“Oh my god, are you George’s roommate?” Sapnap realizes, eyes widening as Karl giggles, nodding. “Shit dude, I’m so sorry you have to put up with that. You can definitely come over to mine.” He laughs lightly at the thought of poor Karl going through that. 

“Well great! I’ll see you tonight around...” he trails off and Sapnap jumps in.

“Seven?” He offers and Karl grins, nodding quickly. The woman at the other end of the counter clears her throat and Sapnap rolls his eyes as Karl sends him a knowing smile. 

“See you then!” Karl calls as Sapnap leaves the shop, a smile on his face and red on his cheeks that are definitely not from the cold. 

-

“You’re telling me the guy you’ve been talking to is Karl? Like wears a sweater, kinda tall, super awkward Karl?” Dream asks, eyes widening as he sits on their shared kitchen counter and eats the ice cream that was originally meant for four-am-Sapnap. 

“Yeah! How have we not met before?” Sapnap asks as he cleans up the rooms, wanting it to be nice before Karl comes over. He didn’t know if it classified as a date but either way he wanted to make sure the first time he saw Karl out of the shop wasn’t a disaster. 

“I dunno. I like him, seems cool. George does too- says he’s super neat and cooks some great waffles.” Dream shrugs before taking another bite. Sapnap cringes.

“You just like him ‘cause he doesn’t complain about noise.” He replies, shuddering slightly from when they used to kick Sapnap out of his room to use it. He usually went to the library for a few hours instead. 

“And here I thought you wanted my help.” Dream scoffs.

“Dude you’ve literally just been sitting there while I do everything, if this is what you consider help then you’re shit at it.” Sapnap deadpans. Dream rolls his eyes and hops off the counter as he puts away the ice cream.

“You and I both know that if we weren’t talking and joking around right now that you’d be freaking out.” 

“...I hate when you’re right.” 

-

_ hey! i’m omw but i’ve got to make a quick stop at my friend’s so i might be a few minutes late!  _

Sapnap looks at the text, very grateful for the few minutes he has to take deep breaths and try to relax.

_ no problem! :) _

He sits on the couch, knee bouncing as he waits for the knock on the door that was bound to come. He had kicked out Dream half an hour ago and was very glad it hadn’t taken long to clean up the rooms. Dream wasn’t a big fan of messiness so it was mostly just his piles of clothes and energy drinks that never made it to the trash he had to clean up. 

The knock on the door startles him, making him jump up quickly and make his way over. He waited another moment to take a deep breath before opening the door, eyes looking up to meet none other than Karl Jacobs in a familiar sweater but no apron in sight. Sapnap grins, opening the door completely.

“Hey! Sorry I’m late, Jimmy needed a film project I’ve been working on for a while so I had to stop by and make sure he got all of it and-“

“You’re a film major?” Sapnap asks as he closes the door, Karl immediately plopping down on the couch and nodding.

“Yeah! And you’re a compsci major.” Karl asks, pointing at him to double check. Sapnap nods with a small smile as he sits down on the couch. “That’s so cool! George does that and I swear every time I see his textbooks it gives me a heart attack.” He says with a grin, shaking his head at the thought. Sapnap chuckles.

“Yeah, it’s pretty confusing for me still too.” He agrees wholeheartedly. Karl seems interested, eyes focusing on him.

“So, Bee Movie?” Karl asks, nodding towards the tv. Sapnap clears his throat, nodding and grabbing the remote as he tries to stop the blush from spreading across his cheeks. He pulls it up and Karl immediately takes the remote away from him, hands brushing as Karl scoots a bit closer to. “Before you watch a movie, you have to watch the trailer- that’s like a rule or something.” He states. Sapnap laughs a little but doesn’t complain as the trailer starts to play. Karl keeps ahold of the remote but settles back, now much closer to Sapnap than he was before. Sapnap tried to focus on the short trailer but his eyes keep flickering to the adorable boy beside him who’s intently reciting the words. 

It ends all too quick and Karl grins, turning to look at him. 

“Well, what do you think?” Karl asks and Sapnap laughs, shaking his head.

“I think that you definitely have this whole movie memorized.”

-

Sapnap had no clue how they end up like this. Okay, he has  some clue since he was the one to put his arm around the back of the couch and watch as Karl immediately leaned in, still watching the movie. 

But now the movie was nearing its end and Karl had  his head on Sapnap’s shoulder . His arm was wrapped around Karl and at some point Karl had let his head fall and god if Sapnap wanted this movie to go on forever. He hated the movie to be honest, thought the plot was stupid and that the screenwriters were definitely high while writing it. But if it meant Karl would be pressed up into his side like this, he’s watch it for hours on repeat. 

The movie went to the credits and Karl laughed, picking up the remote and pausing it. He turned, still leaning into Sapnap with a huge grin that made Sapnap both want to pull away and pull him closer. 

“What did you think?” Karl asks, seeming to not realize the closeness of the two. 

“It was... interesting.” Sapnap says, not wanting to hurt his feelings but also definitely unable to say he liked it because that was just unrealistic. Karl giggled, nodding quickly and not offended whatsoever.

“I know! It’s an awful movie but it’s a classic- I mean half the jokes don’t even make sense yet are the funniest things out of context.” Karl rambles a little bit, his hands moving slightly as he speaks. Sapnap smiles, just studying him. “I think movies like those are the best- they don’t necessarily have to be good but because they’re so  weird you want to watch them. You know?” He asks and focused his attention back up on Sapnap who is a bit flustered now. 

“I think so.” He says, hoping that’s the right answer. “Though there was a lot of opportunities for bee puns they could’ve used.” He adds, living for the way Karl snorts, covering his mouth to muffle his laughter. 

“Oh my god, you’re such a dad.” Karl waves him off, still laughing at the not-very-good joke. 

“Buzz off, I’m not a dad.” Sapnap teases, Karl delving back into laughter just as he managed to catch his breath. Sapnap shakes his head with a small laugh at the sight. 

“Bee-hive yourself.” He manages to say but not before falling against Sapnap as he wipes away tears at the joke. Sapnap doesn’t really find the puns all too funny but Karl is  dying  of laughter over the nonsense. 

“You are adorable.” Sapnap says, honey-sweet voice slipping out before he can stop it. His eyes widen as Karl looks over in shock, tears in his eyes from all the laughing. 

“Aw, bay- _bee_.” He coos, giggling at hey another pun. Sapnap breaths out in relief, blushing and rolling his eyes. Karl looks over at him with a grin and Sapnap turns his head, breath catching with just how close they were. Suddenly he could feel Karl’s breath on his face and suddenly the amusement in Karl’s eyes weren’t as fascinating as the smile on his lips. “Hey Sapnap?” Karl asks quietly. Sapnap hums in acknowledgment, barely being able to pull his eyes away from Karl’s lips that were temptingly close. “Kiss me.” He breathes and Sapnap processes for only a moment before he’s leaning forward, finally,  _ finally  _ kissing him after weeks of wanting to. 

-

Sapnap wakes up the next morning alone, Dream not in his dorm though he would be for a change of clothes since he likely spent the night at George’s. Sapnap groans, lifting up his hands to cover his face as the light shining in annoyingly through the windows. The night had come to an anticlimactic end, both of them pulling apart before Karl sheepishly told him he had to go because he had work tomorrow. Sapnap knew that of course so he had escorted Karl back to his dorm room and Karl had kissed him on the cheek before heading inside. 

Today, in the morning sun, Sapnap felt cold. 

It was another one of those days after an achingly perfect night. He didn’t know why but he had an inkling that it had something to do with the homework stacked on his desk to do or the way he had five missed calls from his mother waiting for him. 

He groaned, blearily checking the time on his phone and sitting up despite everything in him screaming not to. It was ten in the morning and he didn’t have a class until four in the afternoon. There was a text from Karl waiting for him and he clicked on it without thinking, letting out a small breath at the sight.

_ morning! i’ll see you at the shop, we have to discuss plans for another movie night (maybe your pick this time!) :) _

The message was enough to get him out of bed, his heart dragging his sorry ass up for even just a few minutes that day with a certain someone. 

-

“Hey, you look exhausted. Are you okay?” Karl asks softly, pausing in grabbing the coffee cup. 

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Sapnap replies, grabbing his wallet from his pocket with a small smile. Karl waves him off, shaking his head in worry. 

“On me.” He explains when Sapnap sends him a confused look. Sapnap opens his mouth to argue before sighing and putting back away his wallet with a small thanks. Karl made him his usual coffee and grabbed two cookies.

“It’s okay-“ Sapnap starts taking the coffee but not taking the cookies.

“On me.” Karl repeats definitively. “I have a break in like five minutes so if you want to sit down then I’ll eat one with you and we can just talk about anything for a little bit.” He offers softly, nodding behind Sapnap to a booth. Sapnap hesitates but nods, taking the two cookies. That sounded great- usually on days like this everyone left him alone. Dream went to George’s, Bad made up an excuse not to come over, and the others he didn’t really talk to much anymore. Sapnap knew they loved him and figured he wanted to be alone those days but in reality, everything in him  didn’t  want to be. He wished Dream would drag him out of bed and to his friends, no matter how sad that sounds. 

Karl slides into the booth on the opposite side, stealing a cookie from the bag and smiling as Sapnap took the other. 

“Do you want to talk about it or distract?” Karl asks, seemingly very used to conversations like these, not even faltering at Sapnap’s surprised look. 

“Distract.” Sapnap finally mumbles. Karl sends him a warm smile that makes his insides feel like they’re melting. 

So Karl talks. He talks about his classes, about professors, about this new film project he’s working on. His mouth moves as quick as his hands do and he barely pays attention to the cookie he hand set down in front of me, instead opting to explain everything and nothing at the same time. 

So Sapnap listens. He listens through all the stories and laughs in all the right places and nods when Karl double checks he’s listening. He watches as Karl’s eyes light up at a particularly funny part of the story or the way his lips curse up at the mention of one of his friends. 

“So it was a complete mess. So moral of the story- never give Chandler a coffee before filming.” Karl sums it up, shaking his head with a small laugh and turning to Sapnap.

“Note taken.” Sapnap replies, smile fond as Karl steals another drink of his coffee. He doesn’t mind, just rolling his eyes and in turn taking another bite of his cookie that had been left on the napkin forgotten as Karl spoke. 

“Anyway, my break is almost up but you’re welcome to stick around if you’d like.” Karl offers, looking over to Alex moving to take care of customers behind the counter. Sapnap sighs, shaking his head.

“Thanks but I’ve still got a shit ton of homework to do.” He runs his fingers through his hair and Karl nods in disappointment. “But this was nice. And I’d love to take you up on that offer of another movie date.” Sapnap adds, not even realizing the word slipping out of his mouth until Karl’s lighting up and his cheeks are a clear pink. 

“Date? Well if that’s the case then absolutely.” Karl grins, tone teasing as Sapnap turns a very dark shade of red. 

“Well I mean if you want to, then yes.” He mumbles and Karl nods.

“Dude, I literally kissed you last night. I’m pretty sure I’d say yes to an official date.” Karl says, rolling his eyes as Sapnap laughs and grins. 

“Great. This time I’m picking the movie though and we  have  to have some of these cookies.” He says definitively, pointing down at what was left of the chocolate chips cookies that were absolutely delicious. 

“Can’t say no to that.” Karl says, standing up. Before he goes away though, he kisses Sapnap on the cheek like he had done last night. Though this time Sapnap pulls him back down for a kiss and ignores the whoops from Alex. 

**Author's Note:**

> can you tell i don’t drink coffee?  
> kudos and comments are appreciated! hope you enjoyed!


End file.
